Thanks for the news. All I can say is yuck. Just the name rat lungworm even sounds gross, doesn't it? I always wash the veggies really well, and now I'll be even more cautious with them.

Oh dear. Thanks for sharing. . . :) -- no REALLY, thanks for sharing. Knowledge is power, right? Crazy cool and windy here today, as well. I also was catching up on some reading and studies. I'm so glad I didn't learn anything equally dismal to share.

Yeah, I hate this. I always did the vinegar thing or salt water to get rid of hitch hiking critters, like cabbage worm. I've thought the chickens running amuck in the garden was a good reason to wash it any way.

I always double wash most veggies---wash them outside first, then again inside. Then, if they sit on the counter, or in the fridge or pantry before using, I wash them again. I scrub everything with a brush too. I don't think I'm too obsessive. Lettuce and other greens usually get triple washed indoors, and then spun in the salad spinner. I use vinegar more than hydrogen peroxide, though I keep both in the kitchen so can use either as the mood strikes.

Lets hope this doesn't become a real problem here as it gives me pause if we should go back......even a tiny part of a slug holds enough of the stuff to get you.

Did anyone find anything in the research that specifically says how to avoid contamination and/or what kills them when washing?

Amy, I believe the most likely way a human being would contract this disease would be from eating garden produce contaminated by snail/slug slime from an infected snail or slug. Or, if you eat snails, perhaps from eating undercooked ones? So, in the case of our garden produce (since I don't think any of us are raising our own snails to eat), thorough washing, and doubly so if you are seeing snails or slugs in your garden. Hispid cotton rats are common, at least in some parts of Oklahoma. I see them here occasionally, but not often. Usually we have enough rat snakes around to keep them somewhat under control.

I always see a few snails in spring usually during the early rounds of garden prep, planting, weeding and mulching, but one round of Slug-Go Plus usually wipes them out and then I don't see many the rest of the year. Slugs haven't found our garden yet. I'll watch more diligently for snails this year because of this new (to our state) disease.

Nancy, This is such a horrible thing. I Googled and read some of the recent news stories. I always have thought of Hawaii as a sort of tropical paradise, and hate to see this affecting everyone there. Reading about this does make Hawaii seem a bit less of a paradise, doesn't it?

Here's some of the additional info I read this morning:

Ratlung Disease in Hawaii

I should get some slug-go plus. I have not seen many slugs or snails. Sometimes on solo cups in damp conditions and usually in or under straw. Straw just sitting waiting to be used as mulch, which also had a whole passle of garter snakes in it. I assumed the critters came with the straw.

We had trouble with rats one year when we lived in Tulsa. The whole city was having trouble with them in the storm sewers. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Yes, Dawn it does. By the way, there is a copper tape one could wrap around raised beds. Might be a bit of a cost, but if this happens here, I sure will do it. It is really hard to get every bit of it, like in folds of greens. Many people in Hawaii only eat cooked vegetables. Sure would miss salads.

That is a really good article you found!

Amy, Well Slug-Go Plus wouldn't hurt and probably would help.

Nancy, I cannot imagine eating only cooked veggies. It is sad that it has come to that. I cannot comprehend having to give up salads....or the Lettuce and Tomato on BLT sandwiches. Granted, a bacon sandwich would taste okay, but it wouldn't be the same as a BLT.

This is such an important reminder to us all about what sorts of ecological havoc can occur when a place, like Hawaii, is invaded (? is that the right word?) by non-native creatures like the semi-slug. I didn't research to see why a semi-slug is only a semi-slug and not a whole slug. Maybe I don't want to know.

Can y'all imagine what it would do to the agricultural industry in someplace like Florida if this disease is found there?

I've seen the copper tape in gardens before. I assume it works or people wouldn't use it. I can't imagine having to use it on all the raised beds in my garden though. Of course, if it came down to being a safety issue, I'm sure we'd do it.

I enjoyed the years when we had no snails here. Then, when they finally first appeared in our garden here, I felt proud for about three days----because, you know, their appearance here was a sign that we finally had improved the soil 'enough'. Then I got over it! I'd forgotten how destructive snails could be to a garden. I still don't really understand why we've never had slugs appear. I am sure they must live in our woodland, but I'm not complaining. I hope they stay there. Now, if only someone would be Scorpion-Go to chase the scorpions out of our garden.

Dawn

Scorpions....my worst nightmare

I'm not sure they're my WORST nightmare, but suspect they're right up there. I've never seen a live one, and that's okay by me. . .

We do have scorpions in OK. I can remember a girl got stung at scout camp. But I don't recall ever running into one personally.

There was one fall day I was birding at Skiatook lake. I was very careful where I put my feet because it looked like snake habitat. Going home there was this stuff in the road. Migrating tarantulas. Hundreds. OMG! OK tarantulas aren't poisonous, but if I had stepped into a bunch of those I would have freaked out.

Scorpions like to hide under pieces of wood or burlap or row cover. If you pick up something that has a scorpion underneath it, the scorpion tends to hang on to the item you're picking up and then it runs to your hand and bites it. It hurts so much that I am convinced every time that a snake has bitten me. I only get bitten once every 3 or 4 years---because after it happens I am very, very careful for a long, long time.

We have scorpions all over the place outdoors. We had one indoors last week. Pumpkin chased it around the kitchen and laundry room. That's the first one we've had indoors in 10 or 15 years, but we had a lot when we first moved here. We think the scorpions got inside the house while it was under construction, and friends of ours who built a house here around the same time had the same problem. It took several years to get rid of them. (Scorpions are not easy to kill.)

Tarantulas are less common most years, but every few years they seem to have a huge population explosion and then you'll see them everywhere. The ones we have here are harmless and just want to be left alone. It still freaks me out if I'm walking a dog and we come across 10 or 20 tarantulas walking up the road together. I have no idea why they travel in groups like that in the roadway, but they don't come near us----they just try to peacefully pass by.

Scorpions - Aw. Heck. NO!
Tarantulas - Yes! Love seeing them. Good guys.